MLB notebook: Yankees set homer record in 100th win
BOSTON— The Bronx Bombers lived up to their nickname by hitting another big number. A couple of them, in fact.
Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton connected as the playoff-bound Yankees set the major-league record for most home runs in a season, beating the Boston Red Sox 8-5 Saturday for their 100th win this year.
“I’m happy for them. They work really hard at their craft, and it’s a result of a lot of people having success,” manager Aaron Boone said.
The Yankees entered Saturday tied with the 1997 Seattle Mariners — a lineup that included Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez — with 264 homers after hitting four Friday night in an 11-6 win over Boston.
Torres hit a two-run drive in the fourth inning that gave the Yankees the outright record, and Stanton added to it with his 38th of the season in the seventh.
New York became the first team to get at least 20 home runs from all nine spots in the batting order.
“I didn’t even know that until before the game, my meeting with the broadcast team,” Boone said. “Actually, when Gleyber hit it, I was sharing all that information with all the guys on the bench because I felt like I had this new-found knowledge.”
The Yankees, who will host Oakland in the AL wild-card game on Wednesday, improved to 100-61 — that still left them far behind the Red Sox, who have set a franchise record for victories in going 107-54. This is the 10th time in big-league history a team has won 100 games and not finished first. CC SUSPENDED: Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia was suspended five games for hitting a Tampa Bay batter, a penalty that won’t take effect until next year.
Sabathia appealed the ban that was issued by Major League Baseball. Any games he misses will come at the start of the 2019 season.
Sabathia was penalized for hitting Rays catcher Jesus Sucre in the leg leading off the bottom of the sixth inning at Tropicana Field on Thursday. The 38-yearold lefty was ejected, and the benches cleared.
“It is what it is,” Sabathia said. “Everybody saw what happened.”
Sabathia was cruising with a big lead when he got tossed. He needed two more innings to trigger a $500,000 bonus for pitching 155 innings this season.